mid-15c., mokken, "make fun of," also "to trick, delude, make a fool of, treat with scorn;" from Old French mocquer "deride, jeer," a word of unknown origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *muccare "to blow the nose" (as a derisive gesture), from Latin mucus; or possibly from Middle Dutch mocken "to mumble" or Middle Low German mucken "grumble." Or perhaps simply imitative of such speech. Related: Mocked; mocking; mockingly. Replaced Old English bysmerian. Sense of "imitating," as in mockingbird and mock turtle (1763), is from notion of derisive imitation.

1540s, from mock, verb and noun. Mock-heroic is attested from 1711, describing a satirical use of a serious form; mock-turtle "calf's head dressed to resemble a turtle," is from 1763; as a kind of soup from 1783.